Revelations
by Ankou13
Summary: Ayakashi attacks. Revelation of secrets. Heartfelt moments of camaraderie. Betrayal. Hurt. Fairytale endings. What else could you want in a story? Just read it.
1. Prologue

I stood alone in an open field. Bodies were sprawled on the cold hard ground around me. My friends and family were dead, anyone I had crossed paths with was dead, they all had with had met their end. Human and ayakashi; together in death. If the situation weren't so serious or horrifying I would have laughed at the irony. They had been victims of a very malicious and sinister spirit. That menacing ayakashi responsible for the chaos around me was long gone but his words lingered for an eternity after his absence. As he spoke humour had lined his tone. He had laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world, when to me it was the exact opposite: a dreaded and loathsome proclamation.

"_You've_ caused this human child, you are cursed. Their deaths are on your hands. They welcomed you into their lives and look what happened to them. _You_ brought all this chaos and destruction. _You_ are to blame." He ended his speech with the most malevolent cackle I'd ever heard.

With his words ringing in my ears, my knees grew weak. It wasn't long before they collapsed under me and I landed in a heap on the ground. Silent tears found themselves streaking down my cheeks as I held back choked sobs. On some twisted level deep down, I knew I deserved this. I deserved to be alone, for the only thing that accompanied me was death and destruction. I lowered my head, locking my blank stare on my hands. I knew this would happen sooner or later. No matter where I went it was always like this. People always seemed to get hurt. I would watch on, seemingly unfazed by their reactions, as their mistrust and loathing towards me grew. The I would be moved again, only to have the previous events repeated over and over, eternally. No matter where I went it was always the same. Why did I think this time would be any different? Was it because for the first time I was actually wanted? Yes, they had wanted me. They brought me into their home, their lives. I should have protected them, should have been more careful. I shouldn't have let this happen.

I lifted my head, casting my glazed eyes over their bodies once more. A sudden minute movement from their corpses caught my attention. Hope flared within me, maybe they weren't really dead. Perhaps there was still a chance that they were alive. I pushed myself to my feet as their twitching began to become more pronounced. I rushed over to the body closest to me and knelt down beside it. The figure belonged to Tanuma. Dread soon replaced my hope as fear rooted itself deep within my chest. Tanuma's body was cold to touch; it looked so pale and lifeless. This wasn't something that was still alive. The body before me was most definitely dead. As I sat there puzzled and stunned, the corpses pushed themselves to their feet. Their lifeless bodies moved to surround me. I was terrified.

"Look at what you've done Natsume!" Hiiragi's body cried eerily.  
"Do you see what you've brought upon us?" came Kitamoto's ghostly voice.  
"Are you happy now Natsume? Are you proud of what you've caused?" Anger lined Hinoe's tone.  
"We've suffered because of you and your secrets!" Shigeru accused.  
"If you had just stayed away from us we would still be alive." Tanuma stated.

I began to panic. It was true; it was all my fault that they were dead. If they had never have met me they would still be alive.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I cried as they closed in on me.  
"Takashi!" a familiar voice yelled. "Takashi!" who was it? The voice sounded so kind and warm. "Takashi!" my eyes snapped open. Around me was the room that had become so familiar to me, the room that the fujiwara's gave me. "Takashi dear if you don't get up now you'll be late for school."  
It was Touko-san. She was calling me. "Hai Touko-san!" I laid motionless in my futon for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts.  
"Another bad dream Natsume?" Sensei emerged from my futon.  
"Sensei! Stay out of my bed!" I said and whacked him on the head. I got up out of the clutches of the warm sheets, ignoring Sensei's usual grumbling, and headed downstairs to greet Touko-san. The bad dream was soon gone and forgotten.


	2. Chapter one

Miruial: Don't worry! Natsumeis way too important for me to do that to him!

AlyssPenedo: I agree it is quite corny, but I wanted him to laugh evilly and that's the typical evil laugh. So, you know… :P Oh, I almost forgot; what is 'NY-C fandom'?

I do not own Natsume Yuujinchou.

* * *

The day had been uneventful as per the usual routine. I had dragged myself out of the warm embrace of sleep, walked to school, conversed with my friends, fell asleep in class and had chalk thrown at me by the teacher, eaten lunch and lived long enough to see the end of the school day. It had been a very long night; two more ayakashi had paid me a visit requesting their names back. If that wasn't enough to tire me out Nyanko-sensei had waltzed through my door utterly drunk. I didn't get to sleep until three o'clock that morning. It was safe to say that I was utterly exhausted.

The bell signalling the end of school had sounded not too long ago and I was packing up my things. After I had just finished shoving the remaining books into my bag two figures approached my desk. It seemed that they were arguing with one another.

"Hey Natsume! You'll stay and help me right? Unlike Kitamoto here, you're a good friend. Right?"  
"Oi! I am a good friend! You're the bad one. Forcing your friends to stay and help you clean up. It's _your_ turn today Nishimura, not _ours_."  
"You see? Kitamoto wants to abandon me! You wouldn't do that to me would you Natsume?"  
"It's not like you'd be doing this alone anyway. Who're you partnered with?"  
"Sasada."  
"Hahaha! Of all the people to be paired with. Come on Natsume we'd better get out of here before she shows up. Otherwise we'll be stuck helping as well."  
"Who's leaving?" A female voice sounded from behind the two.

Nishimura and Kitamoto spun around. Sasada was standing in the doorway, blocking off the only escape route. Nishimura looked slightly triumphant at the fact that both Kitamoto and I would be stuck there, but then he realised that he had to stay as well and his sour look returned. Kitamoto's expression on the other hand morphed into a look of pure horror as the class president started to lecture the both of them. The whole scene was somewhat comical; it was like a mother scolding her children. I let out a low chuckle successfully startling them into silence. They turned to face me.

"Well I don't have anything else to do." I stated.

Nishimura looked at me like I had just handed him the keys to the chocolate factory. I had to hold back a laugh. It was then that the classroom door slid open to reveal Tanuma and Taki.

"Hey Natsume! Are you ready to go?"  
"Ah sorry Tanuma. We have to clean up."  
"No problem. Do you want some help?"  
"You don't have to-"  
"Really Tanuma? You're actually willing to help?" Nishimura shot Kitamoto a look as if to say 'see, you're the only one selfish enough not to help'. However when the implications of Tanuma's additional help set in he was practically jumping off the walls.  
"Yeah, why not."  
"I guess I'll help out as well." Taki said as she walked into the room after Tanuma. Nishimura looked about to faint. I could practically see the hearts fluttering around his head and in his eyes.  
"Great. With this many people we should be finished in no time." Sasada proclaimed happily.

Not much time had passed before we were almost finished with the cleaning. Kitamoto completed his last few sweeps with the broom before we all began to move the desks back into their original positions. After giving the classroom a once over our odd little group turned and left the school building. As it was Friday and there was no school to worry about until Monday, Nishimura and Kitamoto were excitedly discussing their plans for the weekend. Everyone seemed to be engaged in the pair's conversation as they discussed several activities that everyone would be able to participate in together.

"What a pain. So, are we going fishing again?" Nishimura sounded despondent.  
"You're the one who said we need to mix it up a little." Sasada proclaimed.  
"I guess this means we're all grown up." Kitamoto's hands were in his pockets and his attention was cast skyward.  
"Huh?" came Nishimura intelligent reply.  
"You know what I mean? When little kids go out to play they have all kinds of fun in an empty lot."  
"Ahhha, so that's what you meant." Sasada sounded almost relieved.  
"As people grow older they learn to put aside childish things. Soon we'll be learning how adults have fun."  
"How adults have fun?" Nishimura, Tanuma, Taki and I all looked to the sky in thought.  
A loud sound jolted us from our musings. That sound was soon found to be Sasada clapping her hands. "Hey."  
"Well, you know, when you were a kid anything you did was fun, so it wasn't so hard to find something to do." Kitamoto continued.  
"Yeah, you're right." Tanuma agreed.  
"We did something different every day."  
"What did you do when you were kids? I played house, tiddlywinks..." Sasada offered.  
"I used to go exploring!" Kitamoto seemed to be in a rather chipper mood.  
"Exploring?" I queried, having spent most of my childhood being called a liar.  
"Yeah. I'd get some kids from the neighbourhood and take them to the reservoir. My parents got really mad at me for that."  
"I used to do things like that. I played hide and seek on the temple grounds, and one time I hid in this really important shrine building, and when my dad found me he scolded me good."  
"Hahahah! Everyone played tag and hide and seek." Nishimura concluded.  
"Shadow tag!" Sasada suddenly exclaimed. Her shout was accompanied by a silent clap of her hands.  
"Uh?"  
"I used to play shadow tag all the time. If someone stepped on your shadow you were 'it'"  
"Ahh. I know that one." I said, happy to find a game that I knew.  
"Everybody does."  
"Yeah. Haha."

_~Flashback~_

_The afternoon sun was sitting low in the sky casting its orange glow over the playground before me. There were several kids running around, all laughing and playing some form of game. I think one of the kids said it was called 'Shadow Tag'. They all seemed to be having the time of their lives, nothing but joy was in those smiling happy faces. It made me wonder what it was like to be able to play with your friends._

"I always watched the other kids play but I never joined them."

"Did you say something Natsume?" Nishimura asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.  
"No, nothing."

They continued chatting excitedly all the way to the school gate. A lone figure standing on the other side of the road caught my attention. I stopped dead in my tracks. All humour from the previous conversation drained out of me. My sudden stop drew the attention of my friends as they turned to look at me.

"Natsume, what's wrong? Why'd you stop?"

They all seemed surprised to see my body slightly trembling and an expression of anger tinted with a hint of fear on my face. They followed my gaze to the man across the street. Of course they had no idea who he was, but I knew him enough to know that he was bad news. It was Matoba. His usual sadistic smile was plastered on his face. Finally seeming to notice me he started to approach. I took a quick step back and instantly regretted it. Behind me were a couple of Matoba's shiki.

"Hello Takashi-kun. Long time no see."  
I narrowed my eyes. "What do you want Matoba-san?" my friends looked between me and Matoba attempting to understand what was happening. They looked slightly startled by the tone of my voice.  
"Someone's in a bad mood. Can't I just pop by to say hello?"  
"What do you _want _Matoba-san?"  
He sighed. "I want what I've always wanted Takashi-kun. You said not to come to your house so here I am. Now, we can do this the easy way, which I strongly suggest unless you want your friends involved." I visibly stiffened at this. "Or we could do it the hard way." No one missed the underlying threat in his words. Matoba's eyes locked onto mine.  
"Hey! Who do you think you are? You can't just come here and threaten Natsume like that!" Nishimura protested, fist raised.  
Matoba looked amused. "Oh how rude of me. I never introduced myself to your friends Takashi-kun." His grin widened.  
"Don't." I panicked.  
"Oi. You're clearly upsetting him, why don't you just leave? If you don't I'll go get a teacher." Kitamoto interjected.  
Matoba-san's amused grin stayed in place but he began to look somewhat annoyed. "I'll say it again Takashi-kun; come with me now or something bad will happen to your little friends."  
"Oi! We told you to leave him alone."

Nishimura, Kitamoto and Tanuma moved to stand in front of me. However before they could get there Matoba's shiki grabbed them. Two more came from the bushes and took a hold of Sasada and Taki as well. They all began to struggle against their unseen foe. Confusion was evident in their faces. Tanuma and Taki however had identical expressions of realisation flash across theirs. Tanuma raised his eyes to meet mine, a silent message passing between us. _Yokai?_ I turned back to Matoba completely furious now.

"Let them go." I ground out. My friends stopped struggling, shocked by both my tone and the command.  
"What good would that do me? Say, I noticed that your cat isn't with you. You're foolish to think that you are safe at your school."  
"He's around somewhere. Let them go."  
"I told you before, I don't-"  
"Let them go and I'll go with you."  
"Oi Natsume! Don't give in to him!" Kitamoto scolded.  
"Well, well. That's a good boy." Matoba clicked his fingers and his shiki released my friends. As I was just about to take a step towards Matoba, Nyanko-Sensei jumped down off the gate.  
"Jeez, Natsume. I leave you alone for a minute and this happens."  
"Sensei!"

There was a puff of pink smoke and Sensei now stood in between Matoba and I. His tail curled around me protectively. During Sensei's sudden appearance Tanuma and Taki had dragged Kitamoto, Nishimura and Sasada a few paces behind me. They then each grabbed one of my hands and pulled me towards them. They were asking me questions but I was too focused on Sensei to respond to any of them. Matoba's shiki had positioned themselves in front of Matoba to guard him. As Sensei took a couple of steps back to lengthen the distance between them he let out a low growl. I looked around me for an escape route and my eyes came to rest on the forest. I remembered the time that a yokai had chased me through that very forest demanding that I hand over the Book of Friends. I had hidden from it in a concealed cave, maybe that would work against Matoba too. I turned back to my friends, determined to get them out of here.

"We don't have much time but I need you guys to trust me. When I say go, follow me as fast as you can into the forest." They nodded their confirmation. I then turned towards Sensei and Matoba's standoff. "Sensei!"


	3. Chapter Two

Sorry for the long wait. There was a reason though! I didn't really know where I was going with the story before, but have no fear for I do now. Which means I am exceedingly happy right now. I just love the way my stories fall into place. Heheheh! ;) Anyway as I was saying, I now have the plot down pat so you can expect some serious angst and friendship.

On a side note I figured it would be best to tell you this, common courtesy and all that, but I edited the previous two chapters for this story. Nothing major, just fixed up a few sentences here and there. It won't affect the rest of the story in any way. Just thought I'd tell you.

Oh and before I forget! Thank you for sticking with me thus far and I really appreciate the reviews.

Grisia: You did read the title right? I will but not for a couple of chapters yet. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Natsume Yuujinchou.

* * *

_"We don't have much time but I need you guys to trust me. When I say go, follow me as fast as you can into the forest." They nodded their confirmation. I then turned towards Sensei and Matoba's standoff. "Sensei!"_

Sensei stayed planted firmly between Matoba and our small group but he allowed his eyes to latch onto me. He seemed to understand the silent message I was sending him as he refocused his eyes on Matoba and adjusted his stance. He now looked ready to bolt at any moment. Matoba appeared to have noticed this silent exchange and understood its meaning for his eyes darted to me.

"Nothing will come from running Takashi-kun; I'll get what I want eventually. You can't run away forever." Matoba almost purred.

However I wasn't listening to him anymore, my attention was back on my friends. They seemed ready to burst with a million questions but had obviously decided that now wasn't the best time to ask. I took a deep breath attempting to calm both my nerves and my fury. Sadly it only partially worked. My hand shifted to my bag, subconsciously making sure that I still had the Book of Friends with me.

"You guys ready?" Again they only nodded. After heaving another big sigh I shouted; "Sensei!" and took off running into the forest. A quick look behind me assured me that my friends were following, Sensei bringing up the rear.

We ran for what seemed like a good ten minutes until finally I saw the cave to my left. I stopped running and motioned for the others to enter the cave. We sat in silence for a couple minutes, the only sound being that of heavy breathing as we tried to get our racing pulses under control. Despite the fact that I was forced to run for my life more often than the others, they managed to get their breathing tamed sooner. I was certainly bordering on extreme exhaustion. Looking around I noticed that Sensei had reverted back into his maneki neko form. I peered out of the cave just enough to quickly glance around for Matoba. I couldn't see him or his shiki, there also weren't any noises to signify that someone was out there. Not even the sounds of the usual animals or ayakashi made themselves apparent, that in itself was strange.

Now that Matoba was no longer an imminent threat I began to panic. I had acted strangely in front of my friends, not to mention Sensei spoke to me while he was a cat when they were only a few feet away. What are they going to think? Would they hate me like everyone else did? Would they call me a liar? I had always been terrified that someday if something like this happened, maybe I would no longer be able to stay here. _This is no good, I've got to calm down. Just breathe Takashi! You know these people. They're nice; they're not like the others. I'm wanted here._ Suddenly the dream I'd completely forgotten about flashed through my mind.

_"You've caused this human child. You are cursed. Their deaths are on your hands. They welcomed you into their lives and look what happened to them. You brought all this chaos and destruction. You are to blame."_

_"Look at what you've done Natsume!" Hiiragi's body cried eerily._

_"Do you see what you've brought upon us?" came Kitamoto's ghostly voice._

_"Are you happy now Natsume? Are you proud of what you've caused?" Anger lined Hinoe's tone._

_"We've suffered because of you and your secrets!" Shigeru accused._

_"If you had just stayed away from us we would still be alive." Tanuma stated_

The memories I had long since suppressed flittered across my consciousness. Soon enough I was overrun with memories of my past.

_"Liar Natsume!" _

_"He's always muttering to himself, it really creeps me out."_

_"Liar!"_

_"Sensei, Natsume-kun is lying again."_

_"Liar!"_

_"He has no parents so he just moved here. He tells lies because he wants to be noticed right?"_

_"Liar!"_

_"He's so creepy!"_

_"Natsume, why do you keep telling those creepy lies?"_

_"Liar!"_

_"Do you want attention so badly that you'd tell such lies, sick little boy?"_

_"Liar!"_

_"Liar!"_

_"LIAR!"_

Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down! I repeated the mantra over and over again. If anyone, be it ayakashi or Matoba, noticed me panicking they'd definitely take advantage of that kind of situation. I needed to get the others away from here before that happened. _So calm down Natsume! It won't do anyone any good to panic, least of all myself. Just breathe, take deep breaths._

I regained my composure and decided that it would be in my best interests to get the others out of this as soon as possible. After having made up my mind on that I retreated back into the cave only to be met with burning stares of curiosity from my friends. They seemed to think that we were now out of any imminent danger and wanted to begin their rounds of questioning.

"Natsume! What was that?" Sasada exclaimed.

"Did your cat talk?" Nishimura questioned.

"What did that guy want with you?" Kitamoto's voice was lined with something akin to worry.

Tanuma stepped in effectively cutting off anymore questions from the three. For that I was grateful. "More importantly, are you okay Natsume?"

"I'm fine." I responded quickly.

"Natsume please, you don't have to lie to us."

"I'm really sorry this happened, but I can't… I really like it here and I don't want to have to leave. Please don't make me-"

Suddenly a white, square, human shaped piece of paper darted in the air in front of my eyes. From all the other encounters with it I recognised it as Natori's shiki. It danced around in the air a bit more before it flew out the way it came in. I turned around and followed it out of the cave. Natori was standing just outside the entrance.

"Natori-san what are you doing here?"

"I was actually looking for you. I wanted to warn you to be careful; Hiiragi informed me that Matoba was in the area."

A frown crossed my features. "I know."

"Oh, you've already seen him then."

"Unfortunately."

Sasada and Nishimura took this moment to step out of the cave both shell shocked and excited at once. "Natsume, you know Natori Shuuichi-san?" They chorused.

"Yeah. We met a while ago." I replied awkwardly.

Natori had looked up sharply at the voices, determining whether they were friend or foe. Now he turned back to me, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Matoba-san decided to visit me at school." Realisation flittered across Natori's face. "He wasn't going to take no for an answer, so we ran."

"We need to talk. Preferably in private." His gaze briefly flickered over at my friends.

"Oh no you don't!" Sasada had gotten over her initial shock of Natori being there and was now paying distinct attention to our conversation.

"Sorry?" Natori applied his 100 watt smile.

"Natsume's not going anywhere without us. He still has a lot of things to explain."

"No offense intended but this isn't something inexperienced kids can handle." Natori looked over to Tanuma who had joined the others at the mouth of the cave. "Tanuma, you of all people should know this from our last encounter." Tanuma looked away guiltily at this. "Well then, come on Natsume we have some details to discuss." Natori started walking in the direction of my house.

"Again I'm really sorry." I bowed to them in the form of an apology. Before they could reply I ran after Natori.

By the time the others shook themselves from their stupors Natori and I were already long gone. Tanuma and Taki turned in the opposite direction and started walking back to civilisation. Sasada, Nishimura and Kitamoto turned around when they heard someone walking away. Sasada was the first to call out.

"Wait. Where do you two think you're going?"

"Um, home." Tanuma stated, although it sounded more like a question.

"No you're not. Not until we get some kind of answer, and you two seem to know something."


	4. Chapter Three

*Peaks out from behind a large door* Before you throw anything sharp and pointy, it's not entirely my fault! Although I will apologise now. Hontōni gomen'nasai! My computer kind of had a melt down so I had to get a new one. Unfortunately, I'm broke. Which means that it took a lot of time and effort to scrounge up some money for a new computer. I did though and now I'm back. Hopefully I'll have the new chapter soon... All my old files on my computer were wiped so I have to write everything from scratch... Although I have found this wonderful invention call a 'USB" (I do wonder what that stands for though...) so hopefully something like that will never happen again.

I feel so bad...

* * *

_"Wait. Where do you two think you're going?"_

_"Um, home." Tanuma stated, although it sounded more like a question._

_"No you're not. Not until we get some kind of answer, and you two seem to know something."_

With the help of Nishimura and Kitamoto I managed to drag Taki and Tanuma into the park close to the school. I made them sit obediently on a bench without a hope of evading the three of us. There were still at least two hours before it got dark and I fully intended to use that time to figure this befuddling situation out. I studied the two on the bench; they looked like a couple of deer caught in headlights. They definitely knew something; there was no doubt about it. Now I just had to figure out a way to make them talk. They had been very tight lipped on the walk over, pointedly ignoring any questions about the current situation that were directed to them.

Eventually I gave up on trying to figure out a tactical manoeuvre to trick them and decided to just ask them outright. "What's going on? How come Natsume knows Natori Shuichi-san? And why did he seem extremely displeased to see that black haired guy with the creepy eye patch?"

Taki and Tanuma were silent before shooting each other a guilty look.

This time it was Kitamoto who spoke up. "Look, we're worried about him. If he's in trouble then maybe we can help. We're his friends too."

Tanuma was the first to break the silence that had descended in anticipation for their answer. "What do you think Taki? They _are_ friends."

Taki studied each of us for a moment before she too spoke. "We really don't know much more than you guys do. But we do know one important fact about Natsume-kun. However before we tell you, there is something you have to promise us."

The three of us left in the dark nodded eagerly; completely clueless to the severity of this revelation. Tanuma continued where Taki left off. "You have to promise that you won't laugh or call him crazy. And then when you do finally start to believe us, you have to promise that you won't treat him any differently than you do now."

Nishimura, Kitamoto and I were beginning to realise how serious Taki and Tanuma were being. We each shared a look of worry and a nod before a determined glint hardened in our eyes. "We promise." We said in union.

Taki smiled, letting a little tension out of her shoulders. "Natsume-kun is –" Taki took a deep steadying breath and hardened her resolve. "The thing about Natsume-kun is–"

"Ah!" Tanuma's eyes were squeezed shut, one of his hands holding the side of his head.

"Tanuma-kun! You okay?" Taki rushed to his side.

Suddenly, a now all too familiar voice spoke. "Children these days appear to be very naïve. Either that or it's just Takashi-kun's influence on you." Everyone spun around to find ourselves faced with Matoba. His overly sweet smile was ever present on his face. "Did you really think you could hide from me?" Matoba's eyes slid over us. "But it seems Takashi-kun's not here. That's a shame. Oh well, I'll just have to settle with you five." Matoba clicked his fingers and suddenly each of us were immobilised.

"What do you want from us?" I spat out.

"Just your presence. You five would be the perfect bait to lure Takashi-kun to me."

"Yeah? Well joke's on you. He went off with Natori-san, he doesn't even know that we're here." Nishimura tried to persuade him. I would have clocked him one if I could move and the situation wasn't so serious. The other three looked like they wanted to do the same.

"He's with Natori is he? Well, I should have known he would be here." Matoba looked over at something only he seemed able to see before turning back to us. "I think it's time for you kids to get some shut eye."

In an instant the invisible presence wrapped around my body tightened. Despite the sheer intensity of the pressure it felt gentle and warm, the presence seem to surround me in an awkward embrace. Before long I could feel myself being lulled into a deep sleep. As I felt myself go under the muscles in my legs relaxed and I plummeted to the ground.

* * *

With the return of my conscious mind came the blissful peacefulness of those first seconds after waking. _That's strange. I don't remember falling asleep._ I would have sat upright if it weren't for the heaviness of my limbs. For the time being, I settled for simply opening my eyes. I was a bit surprised to find that my glasses were still in place on my face, with not even a scratch on them. _Why should I be surprised that they're not damaged? Furthermore, why didn't I take them off before I went to sleep? _After pondering over that matter for less than a minute, the severity of the situation my friends and I were in hit me like a tonne of bricks. I bolted into a sitting position in a matter of seconds.

"Sasada? Sasada are you okay?" It was Tanuma's voice.

I turned my head to the left and surely enough Tanuma was there. He had his back up against the wall, leaning his weight on it. For some reason he had a fat, porcelain like cat sitting in his lap. _Wait. Isn't that Natsume-san's cat? The one that follows him anywhere? _I pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind, there were more important things to focus on at that point in time. I offered him a shaky nod. "Wha-" My voice came out higher than I had anticipated, it must have been from lack of use. _How long have we been here?_ I coughed and tried again. "What happened?"

"The person Natsume called Matoba kidnapped us and then threw us in here." He gestured around himself to the cell that we were locked up in.

I took that moment to glance around: it wasn't exactly a small cell, though by all means it wasn't large either. It was big enough to fit five sleeping teenagers, generously spaced, and still have room for three more. It was also longer than it was wide. The walls were made from a large, greyish type of stone that appeared to be quite old if the moss was anything to go by. A small window was situated high on the longest wall behind us, conveniently out of reach. There was a tiny stream of sunlight filtering in through the bars. _At least it's still light out. Though whether that's light from the same day as when we were kidnapped I wouldn't know. _I turned to face the bars next, they were probably the strangest part of the gaol cell. While everything else was sturdy and made out of an impenetrable– _well for five unarmed teenagers that is_– they bars themselves appeared to be wood. _Well that's not exactly what I was expecting. I was sure that they would have been made out of some kind of metal. Maybe we can break out?_

Tanuma must have noticed the thoughtful expression on my face while I was examining the bars. "It won't work. They seem to be reinforced with something."

_Damn. I guess I should have figured that. What good would locking us up do if we could easily break out?_ As I looked past the bars I could see a few more holding cells and furniture. There was another large cell that accompanied ours to create the left corner of the room. The only difference between that on and ours was that there were iron handcuffs chained to the wall. _I pity whoever gets put in there_, I thought with a shiver down my spine. The other gaol cells in the room were significantly smaller in size and larger in quantity. They lined the remainder of the four walls, some of which looked like that had recently housed guests. After I dragged my attention away from the cells I took note of the furniture sitting in the middle of the room. It was basic; several wooden chairs; a couple of them had been bolted to the floor, a small table that had seen better days and more chained handcuffs.

I let slightly discouraged sigh slip past my lips and turned back to Tanuma. _Huh? Didn't he hav Natsume's cat sitting in his lap before?_ The cat had mysteriously disappeared. When I was about to ask Tanuma about it I stopped before the words could even pass my throat. Now that I got a better look at Tanuma he looked too pale; sickly. He was holding one side of his head in what appeared to be a death like grip. His eyes were also squeezed shut as if he was trying to elevate some kind of pain. Perhaps he wasn't feeling well?

"Tanuma? Are you feeling okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You certainly don't look it."

He merely waved off my concern. "We should probably try and rouse the others." He suggested.

In my analysing of the room I had completely forgotten about the other three teens still lying motionless on the cold stone floor. "Oh! Yes, good idea." I turned to Nishimura who was lying within reach to the right of me. "Oi! Sleeping beauty! You've had enough sleep. Time to wake up now." I practically sung it demonically while I shook the life out of him.

After a few more harsh jerks of his shoulders he sprang up. "Wha? Wha's goin' on?" He slurred, still half asleep.

"Open your eyes and look around you. Then remember what happened before you passed out."

"Remember-?" It took him a moment but he finally got it. "Ah! Kidnapper! We were kidnapped!"

"Really?" I dragged the word out, finding some solace in my usual teasing on Nishimura. "Go and see if you can wake Kitamoto up." He nodded and moved off.

When I turned around I saw Tanuma helping Taki into a sitting position. I stood up and walked over to the two of them. "You okay?" Taki nodded in reply. There was a grim expression on her face.

Once everyone was awake and situated we decided to discuss possible outcomes of our position. "What was is that Matoba guy said we were for? Boats for Natsume?"

This time I really did face-palm at Nishimura's idiocy. "Bait! Bait to lure Natsume-kun here."

"What I don't understand is why? Why does he want Natsume so badly?" Kitamoto wondered aloud.

"That's a good question. I'd really like to know the answer to that too. But I think we have more important things to figure out at the moment. Like how we're going to get out of here. We really need to figure that out. Not just so that we can escape the insane nut-job who probably has something sinister planned, but also so that our capture doesn't drag Natsume into any danger." A round of nods affirmed my statement.

"Right, so, how do we go about breaking out of here?" Kitamoto querried.

However, before anyone had a chance to put forth a response a commotion of noise from the hall garnered out attention. The sliding door to this room slid open to reveal Matoba and Natsume. _Well, there goes trying to keep Natsume-kun away from this. _Natsume had a rather glum expression stuck on his face. His head was lowered with his glowering eyes locked onto the ground. His posture seemed to be quite tense with his hands bound in front of him. Matoba on the other hand was as relaxed as when he kidnapped us. He seemed perfectly at ease, as if the idea of kidnapping five teenagers didn't even faze him. After a moment Matoba pushed Natsume into the room. He staggered a bit but soon righted himself and pinned Matoba with a glare.

"Aw, what's with that expression Takashi-kun? Shouldn't you be happy? I'm giving you what you want after all." Natsume's only reply was the grinding of his teeth when he lowered his gaze back to the floor. "See? That wasn't so hard was it? You co-operate and I'll let your friends go. Possibly with your secret intact. I could tell them for you though if you wanted. It'd be a lot easier on you, you know. It would be simple, I'd just mention how terrifying the things you see are, and that you have had horrifying experience after horrifying experience, _even now we're surrounded by them_." He added as an afterthought. Natsume's head snapped up, an expression of extreme worry and fear on his face. _What? What does he mean? What are the 'terrifying' things Natsume-kun, and by the sound of it Matoba as well, see? _Matoba just eyed him for a moment before turning his attention towards us. Natsume followed his gaze. As his eyes met mine, the colour visibly drained from his face.


End file.
